How Documentaries Work

Jacob Bricca, ACE, is Associate Professor at the University of Arizona's School of Theatre, Film and Television. He is an award-winning documentary editor, producer, director, and scholar whose films have screened worldwide from Sundance to the Berlinale. His is the author of Documentary Editing: Principles and Practice (2018), a definitive textbook on documentary editing that is used by film schools around the world, including the USC School of Cinematic Arts, UCLA, and the MET Film School in London.

INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1: RAW MATERIALS
Verité
Interviews
Archival
Reenactments and Animation
Voiceover Narration
Title Cards

CHAPTER 2: MEANING
Creating Meaning Within the Interview Frame
Creating Visual Uniformity with Interviews
Creating Meaning with Objects in the Frame
Creating Meaning with Words
Interview-As-Narration
Creating Meaning with Verité
Open vs. Closed Meanings

CHAPTER 3: NARRATIVE
The Setup
Position
The Crisis Moment
Producing the Narrative Turn
Producing the Narrative Turn with Juxtaposition
Micro-Narratives
Callbacks
Non-Narrative Documentaries

CHAPTER 4: PRESENCE FRAMING
Observational Framing
The Semi-Staged Scene
The Participatory Frame
Narration and the Participatory Frame
Voice of God Narration
Altering the Outcome
The Reflexive Frame

CHAPTER 5: FLOW
Unifying with Sound
Pivots and Pauses
Juxtaposition
Collective Memory
CHAPTER 6: TIME
The Experience of Time in Verité
The Interleaving of Scenes
Use of the Present Tense
CHAPTER 7: TITLES
Naming Characters
Conferring Legitimacy
Look and Feel
Subtitles
CHAPTER 8: ARCHIVAL
Archival Treatments
Manipulation of Newspaper Assets
Historical Shorthand

CHAPTER 9: SOUND
Sweetening
Foley
Time and Space
Framing Presence with Sound: The Cave & For Sama

CHAPTER 10: MUSIC
Fear of Music
Film vs. Television
Verité vs. Expository, Interviews vs. Archival
Tone
Procedural Music

CONCLUSION The Brave New World of Hybridity in Documentary
Acknowledgements
Appendix: List of Films and Television Shows Cited